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Lineament Analysis for Hazard Assessment in Advance of Coal Mining.

Lineament analysis, a common remote sensing tool for petroleum and mineral exploration, can be used for coal mine properties to assess potential ground control hazards by estimating the relative degrees of risk that may be associated with geologic structures that cause the lineaments. This assessment can be applied to unmined properties to provide a preliminary analysis for mine feasibility planning or to active mines to evaluate potential hazards in as-yet- undeveloped reserves. Studies using lineament analysis, in-mine observation of lineament locations and ground control problems, and ancillary data (additional geologic and geophysical data sets) have been carried out in central Utah and northern Alabama. Surface lineaments have been found to match with fractures, fracture zones, paleochannels, and zones of ground control problems at the mine level. Using a zone of 250-ft radius around the lineaments as projected onto the mine map, approximately 80 pct of the known ground control problems in the two Utah study mines matched with these zones and are at least partially controlled by the presence of lineament-controlling geologic structure. Likewise, a correlation of 92 pct was found between the number of roof falls and their proximity to lineaments in the Alabama study mine.